Onion Chutney

While growing up we stayed in Thiruvanmiyur for a while and this is a recipe I picked up from the "Aunty" downstairs. I loved it since day 1 :P


What you will need :

• 3 large onions chopped or sliced
• 1" piece of ginger
• 2-3 green chillies (optional)
• 2 tbsps cooking oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 3 dry red chillies broken into 1" bits
• Salt to taste

How to make it:

• Grind the onions, ginger and green chillies (if using) to a smooth paste . Remove into a serving bowl.

• In a small pan, heat the oil on a medium flame till it is very hot. Add the cumin seeds and fry till they stop spluttering. Now add the dry red chillies and fry till they turn darker.
• Add this tempering mixture of oil, cumin and red chillies to the onion-ginger-green chilli paste. Add salt to taste. Stir to mix well.

Serve as a chutney, dip or use as a sandwich spread!

P.s: If you don't like the raw taste, can fry the onions a bit until pink and then grind with Ginger and chillies.

Spicy Peanut Chutney

It tastes great with Idlis and Dosas :)

What you will need :

1 cup plain peanuts (with or without skin, as preferred)
5 dry red chillies
Salt to taste
Walnut-sized ball of tamarind (to make tamarind juice if you want a wet chutney)

How to make it :

• Heat a griddle till it is very hot, on a medium flame. Roast the peanuts and dry red chillies (stirring frequently) on this griddle till they give off a gentle cooked aroma.
• Allow to cool completely and then grind the peanuts and chillies to a coarse powder .
• Add salt to taste.
• If you want a wet chutney, soak the tamarind in a bowl just covered with hot water. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes or till soft. Then squeeze the tamarind (while still in the water) with your fingers, to release the pulp from it. Squeeze till you get most of the pulp off and into the water. Now strain the liquid to remove pith and any seeds. Tamarind juice is now ready to use.
• Add enough tamarind juice or paste to your previously prepared Chutney to get a thick consistency.

Serve with anything :)

Beetroot Chutney

What all you will need :

2 Beetroots, Cooked and Peeled
2 Red Chilies (adjust acc to taste)
2 tbsp Urad Dal
"½ Coconut, Grated
1 tbsp Tamarind pulp
A pinch of Hing (Asafoetida)
Salt to taste
For the Seasoning :

2 tbsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
Few Curry Leaves
Two pinches or Urd dal

How to make it :

• Fry Red Chilies and Urad Dal in little Oil. Remove when Urad Dal turns pink in color.
• Grind all the ingredients together to a paste. Remove to a bowl.
• Heat Oil and add Mustard Seeds,Urd dal, when it starts to splutter add Turmeric Powder and Curry Leaves.
• Pour this over the Chutney and serve.

Goes well with Dosa's, Phulkas and puri's :)

Carrot Chutney:

This is a boon to moms who are not able to get their kids to eat Carrots :) This is great with adai and works with regular dosa and idli. Here's the recipe:

What you will need :

Grated Carrots: 1-11/2 cups. I usually grate 2 medium carrots.
Roasted Groundnuts - 1/4 cup. Or 3 tablespoons
Red Chilli: 4-5 nos. I add about 7. S likes it spicy.
Garlic Pod: 1.
Tamarind: a small bit
Oil: 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder: 1 tablespoon
Salt : to taste

How to make it:

• Dry roast the garlic and chillies. Dump into the mixer.
• Add the roasted groundnuts.
• Now pour 1/4 tsp of oil and sautee the carrots for a few minutes.
• Add the corriander powder to the carrots and take it off the heat.
• Add the tamarind, salt and carrots into the mixer and blend well.

Carrot chutney is ready!

Note: You can add a quarter cup of roasted coconut if desired.

Peanut Brinjal Chutney

Peanuts brinjal chutney is a simple tasty chutney made by grinding the cooked brinjal and tomato to a fine thick paste. The addition of peanuts makes it have a taste similar to that of peanut chutney. It tastes best with steaming rice and hot ghee. Avaa used to make this and this always reminds me of her ..

What you will need to make this :

• 1 cup brinjal/ eggplant/ aubergine - cubed
• 1/2 cup tomatoes - cubed
• 2 tbs peanuts
• 1/2 cup ridge gourd (optional)
• 3 tsp coriander seeds
• 3-4 green chillies - chopped
• 5-6 - garlic cloves
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp oil
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 cup water

How to make this yummy chutney:

• Heat oil in a kadai. Once hot, throw in cumin seeds, garlic cloves, green chillies , coriander seeds, brinjal, tomatoes and ridge gourd.
• Cook covered for 10- 15minutes on a low flame. Once done, let this cool.
• Simultaneously heat another kadai and dry fry the peanuts for 3-5 minutes on a medium flame with constant sauteing. Once done, remove and let cool.
• Grind them all to a fine thick paste with little salt and little water. Adjust salt before serving.

Serve the yummy brinjal pachadi with rice topped with a generous spoonful of ghee and spicy crispy pappad. This can also be had with idly/ dosa/pongal and if you are as crazy as I am , with phulkas too.

Mango Pickle

Most of us from would have fond memories of climbing the Mango tree(s) either in our own houses or our grandmum's house or even better ( stolen from the neighbors house) . Come summer and so does all those wonderful memories. Apart from eating them raw with salt and chilly powder, for those with no patience to wait until you can pickle it after a couple of weeks, here is something easy and yummy that you can prepare a couple of hours before your meal.

Here is what you will need:

• Raw sour green mango - 1 large or 2 medium Chopped finely.
• Salt - 1 tsp ( Adjust according to your salt intake and the mango quantity)
• Red Chilli Powder: 1 1/2 tsp
• Ground Fenugreek Seeds: 1 tsp
• Asafoetida/hing: 1/2 tsp
• Gingelly Oil : 2 tablespoons ( you dont have this, go buy some! Not worth making the pickle without this :P )

How to make the pickle :

• Add salt to the chopped mangoes and leave it to soak it all up for an hour.
• Heat the oil, and when it is at a high temperature, add the powders and take it off the flame.
• Pour the oil mix into the mangoes. Taste to fix the hing/salt.
• Your pickle is ready !

This is amazing with Idli/ Dosa/ Phulkas / Curd rice and even bread :)

Bread Snack

I remember as a kid there were days when we had to gulp breakfast down as it was getting late for school and on top of that had a huge glass of milk to finish as well... This graduated to the bread and jam sandwich being dipped in milk for it to go down easier and from there came this wonderful recipe which I still snack on at times when i want something simple yet nutritive.

Here is what you will need ( for two ) :

• 4 - 6 slices of bread
• mixed fruit jam
• Warm / absolutely cold milk ( based on your preference)

How to make it :

• Make sandwiches of the bread and jam ( liberal jam is what I like :D ) and then roughly cut up each sandwich into 4 or 6 pieces each.
• Divide them equally into two bowls and pour milk into it
• Let it soak for about five minutes and then sit back and enjoy.

Kids will love this and you get to give them nutritious bread and milk and jam that they like :)

Ugadi Pachadi

Today is Ugadi - the New Year in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. It's the time to make new beginnings and realize new dreams and above all enjoy Ugadi pachadi. It is a sweet and sour pachadi or chutney made of tantalizing ingredients like raw mango, tamarind, jaggery and neem flowers and is a "MUST" on this day. Its quite easy to make. Let me tell you how.

What you will need :

• 2 tsp neem flowers
• 4 tsp crushed jaggery (gur)
• one small lemon size ball of tamarind made into thick tamarind water (imli)
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp oil
• 1 tbsp finely chopped raw mango
• 2 cups water

How to make it:

• Add the raw mango pieces to the tamarind water and bring to a boil until the mango pieces are tender.
• To this, add jaggery and let it cook till it melts and blends into the mixture.
• Remove from heat and keep aside
• Take a pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds let them splutter, add neem flower and fry till light brown. Add chilli powder , salt and mix well
• Add this tadka to the tamarind - mango juice
• Serve in small quantities as an accompaniment to the main course food or can be drunk as it is :)

Pori / Puffed Rice Snack

 Tomorrow is Ugadi and I'll be home for better part of the day.. I was wondering what to make when I suddenly remembered something I made a couple of months back that I really digged.. Its simple and can be done under five minutes provided you have all the required ingredients.

What you will need:

Puffed rice - 200gms
Peanuts - 50 gms
Dry red chillies -10 nos
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Salt - To taste
Curry leaves - 10 to 15 nos
Haldi - 1/4 tsp
Oil to fry

How to make it :

• Heat about 4 tbsps of oil in a huge kadai and fry the peanuts well.
• When you think they are done, drain them and keep them aside.
• In the same oil, dump the curryleaves, red chillies and fry for about slightly under a minute. Ensure you don't burn the chillies.
• Add the puffed rice to this. Also trow in the fried peanuts, sugar, salt and haldi.
• Mix well and turn off the flame once the puffed rice is all nice and crisp.

Voila ! We're done ! Store in air tight containers.

Capsicum fry

I've not been in the mood to cook of lately and my back has been acting up as well... An idea strikes :) - Rice, dal, Capsicum fry - Done !! This is one of the easiest side dishes I make and gets done under 7 minutes :)

What you will need :

• 1 large capsicum
• 1 teaspoon oil
• Some salt, garam masala, cumin seeds

How to make it :

• Heat the oil with cumin seeds
• Add large chopped pieces of capsicum
• Sautee for 2 mins and add salt and garam masala
• After another 3-4 minutes, take it off the stove.

Viola ! we are done :)